Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Packard Campus Theater Shows "On the Firing Line with the Germans" (USA, 1915)

On November 16, the Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, Virginia, will show W.H. Durborough's World War I feature film On the Firing Line with the Germans. A must-see for anyone interested in World War I film history!




American reporters on the Eastern Front, 1915. Film frame from Durborough's war movie. Colorized reproduction.

Link to original high res image



Last year the Library of Congress restored Durborough's war film which was first shown again on the screen since 1917 at the Silent Film Festival in Pordenone, Italy.

Here is the program announcement of this special film show at the Packard Film Theater:

Wednesday, November 16 (7:30 p.m.)

ON THE FIRING LINE WITH THE GERMANS (War Film Syndicate Company, 1915)

In 1915, newsreel director and cinematographer Wilbur H. Durborough spent seven months with the German army through Germany and Poland and shot 16,000 feet of film. Edited to nine reels and released in November of 1915, it is the only existing, essentially complete World War I feature-length documentary. Thanks to the work of Cooper C. Graham and Jim Castellan who spent years reviewing and logging each reel of known Durborough film at the Library of Congress’s nitrate film vaults and the National Archives film collection, the Library of Congress Film Preservation Lab has restored the documentary which had its premier screening at the Pordenone, Italy Silent Film Festival in 2015. In addition to the historic and valuable material shot on the battlefields, the film has rare footage showing the first attempt by the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom to stop the Great War. Stephen Horne will provide live musical accompaniment.

Black & white, 109 minutes

For more information on this film show check out this website






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